Over the past several years, ICLEI Members Antwerp (Belgium), Basel (Switzerland), Bristol (the United Kingdom), Grenoble (France), Mannheim (Germany), and Warsaw (Poland) have been experimenting with using an innovative “City Lab” approach to push forward local energy transition. Now, their key insights and lessons have been made into a practical guide to help any local leader to follow in their footsteps.

The City Lab guide features a checklist to judge readiness to roll-out a City Lab, links to specific, tried-and-tested tools, and a series of examples with concrete advice. In other words: the guide was created to be usable (and to be used!).

But, what exactly is the “City Lab” approach…? This is a method used to test new and innovative solutions with a smaller, defined target group or area, which is then evaluated to see whether it was effective, and if it can be scaled-up. It is a great way for local governments to be innovative, and to test out new solutions that may not yet be ready to roll-out city-wide.

These six ICLEI Members used their City Labs to test a wide range of solutions, each of which aim to push forward just and sustainable energy transition. Some of these solutions include: a programme of renting/lending energy efficient appliances to low income households (Antwerp); household meters that monitor energy use and are used to generate personalised and tailored energy efficiency suggestions (Warsaw); and a training programme for maintenance staff at schools to help them become “energy sufficiency” stewards (Grenoble).

These City Labs, and the insightful guide that resulted from them, were all done in the context of the SONNET project, in which ICLEI Europe is a partner.

Make use of the guide today! Download it at: bit.ly/CityLabGuide.